So, in a long line of stupid things that can happen to ones tank I just pulled a doozy. I gave my fish a piece of sweet potato to munch on. They didn't and I forgot to take it back out. Water is icky so I am doing a 75% change right now. Siphon is sucking the water out right now. I am so happy I have this thing now, it make the water changes so easy. I LOVE IT!!

I guess I won't be doing any treats tonight for the fish, other then the clean water. I feel so bad, I tried to give them a yummy extra and instead I fouled up the water. :-(

How long do you guys keep fresh veggies in the tank at one time? Does it foul up your water?

So, in a long line of stupid things that can happen to ones tank I just pulled a doozy. I gave my fish a piece of sweet potato to munch on. They didn't and I forgot to take it back out. Water is icky so I am doing a 75% change right now. Siphon is sucking the water out right now. I am so happy I have this thing now, it make the water changes so easy. I LOVE IT!!

I guess I won't be doing any treats tonight for the fish, other then the clean water. I feel so bad, I tried to give them a yummy extra and instead I fouled up the water. :-(

How long do you guys keep fresh veggies in the tank at one time? Does it foul up your water?

maybe the reason my fish never eat the veggies is I take them out to soon. 1 hour 2 at max and then its out of the water. But all in all I don't think you mishap was all that bad. i came about 2 seconds away from full on tank crash two weeks ago.

I cleaned my OHF filled it with tap water grabbed a handfull of filter media and tossed it into the OHF that was full of tap water. lucky for me as soon as the first handful of media splashed into the OHF I said oops need some prime, and dosed it with prime. I was that close to dumping all my biomedia into TAP WATER !!!!!

Inga

07-22-2011 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfored
(Post 746651)

maybe the reason my fish never eat the veggies is I take them out to soon. 1 hour 2 at max and then its out of the water. But all in all I don't think you mishap was all that bad. i came about 2 seconds away from full on tank crash two weeks ago.

I cleaned my OHF filled it with tap water grabbed a handfull of filter media and tossed it into the OHF that was full of tap water. lucky for me as soon as the first handful of media splashed into the OHF I said oops need some prime, and dosed it with prime. I was that close to dumping all my biomedia into TAP WATER !!!!!

At least you caught it right away. I think you would have been alright though if you have other things in the tank. Amazing amounts of bacteria in the substrate alone. Not to mention the tank glass, plants, wood, heater etc... I mean, assuming the tank is well established. It would really be frustrating if this was a new cycle and you did that. UGH!!!

I generally leave treats for a few hours as well but... I am old and I forgot it. It was in there for like 24 hours because the stupid thing floated up to the top and hid in the floating plants. When I came home from work today the water was yucky. Then to add to it, I over flowed the tank. Word to the wise... Don't answer the phone while refilling the tank, you can become distracted. ha ha It wasn't a huge over flow, I heard it the second it went over and shut it off but sheesh, can I be any dumber?

Romad

07-23-2011 09:13 AM

Inga you are too funny :) Other than having gunky water I wouldn't be worried about it. It's organic matter and maybe the fish got some vitamins out of the deal anyway.

Now about that overflow ..... :roll:

nfored

07-23-2011 04:09 PM

I agree you caught it before it could truly decay into anything nasty.

redchigh

07-23-2011 04:21 PM

Lots of people leave it in overnight (about 8-10 hours) so I wouldn't worry. Maybe the problem is that it's a starchy food...

Rip

07-23-2011 08:37 PM

i feed them blanched zucchini on occasion and stick it on a plastic fork, and stick the fork into the substrate. not all fish go for it. out of the fish i have, the otos, platys, and pleco go for it. oh, and the snails too. i leave it in there between 24-36 hours. if it's closer to 36 hours, sometimes it's hard to remove the fork, as it just turns to mush, and makes a little mess, but nothing too bad.

Inga

07-24-2011 03:19 PM

Maybe that was the problem, I didn't blanch or cook in any way, I stuck it in raw and it made a HUGE mess. Huge in my mind anyway. I can't stand cloudy water or icky looking substrate. I am going to keep offering veggies but only for very very short times. Either they eat it or they lose the option.

friend2puffers

07-24-2011 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inga
(Post 748905)

I can't stand cloudy water or icky looking substrate. I am going to keep offering veggies but only for very very short times. Either they eat it or they lose the option.

One of the ways that people reduce the starch in foods for cooking prep (like fried sweet potatoes) is to soak it in tap water for an hour if you don't want to blanch it first. It removes a lot of the starch. If you want to be able to leave it a little longer in the aquarium, you might soak it first in a small bowl. I haven't given anything starchy to my mine, but I'm guessing it would help the water problem you had. It definitely helps when frying potatoes!

Thanks for posting this because I usually leave zucchini and green beans overnight. (I'm not sure how long they actually last b/c my pleco is insatiable!) I might have done it with a sweet potato at some point and been very upset in the morning!

Inga

07-25-2011 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by friend2puffers
(Post 749069)

One of the ways that people reduce the starch in foods for cooking prep (like fried sweet potatoes) is to soak it in tap water for an hour if you don't want to blanch it first. It removes a lot of the starch. If you want to be able to leave it a little longer in the aquarium, you might soak it first in a small bowl. I haven't given anything starchy to my mine, but I'm guessing it would help the water problem you had. It definitely helps when frying potatoes!

Thanks for posting this because I usually leave zucchini and green beans overnight. (I'm not sure how long they actually last b/c my pleco is insatiable!) I might have done it with a sweet potato at some point and been very upset in the morning!

Yeah I put the sweet potatoe in for my Pleco but he/she ignored it. I thought for sure it would be such a treat but, guess not.

I won't be giving up but I do not like a cloudy tank or any crud on the bottom so I likely won't keep anything much in there for long.